Rudders at Home

Here’s this week’s picture! Just thought I’d share mom’s gnomes with you all, and of course there’s a bit of a story to go along with it all!

Paul and I were driving mom and dad back the road to the place where we got married. It’s quite a rural route, lots of green stuff, woods, fields, sheep, etc. We’re driving back to the hotel, quite carefully, as it’s a one lane road, and at this time mom and dad are gawking around, acting like the tourists they are. You know the stuff, asking weird questions, taking pictures of sheep, exclaiming over how gorgeous Scotland is and how much they want to come and visit again – the usual tourist basics. When, all of a sudden, Mom yells out “there’s gnomes up there!” (okay, those may not have been her exact words, but you get the gist!)

On go the brakes, but it’s too late. We’re past and no one else spotted the illusive Scottish gnome. Of course this doesn’t go without comment. We all have a laugh, and Paul, being the nice guy he is, says, “We’ll keep an eye out on the way back, and have a better look.” Meanwhile I’m sure he’s rolling his eyes and thinking, How in the world did I get myself into this?!?!

And so, off we go on our merry little way. Enjoying the trip down through the Scottish countryside. We stop at Ardanaiseig Hotel, which being at the end of the road we were driving down, I’m not sure where else we’d go!

Ardanaiseig Hotel just happens to be the gorgeous place where Paul and I tied the knot a while back. We had a good wander around the grounds there. It was pretty muddy, but Dad and Paul wandered down to the waterside – Ardanaiseig is right on Loch Awe. That’s where Dad took this awesome picture. I’ve added the picture here because it is just simply something else. The place just looks so lovely. We even went inside and had a good nose around in there.

Having had all the fun we could, we hopped back in the car – ok, we didn’t exactly hop – but we got ourselves back in the car and headed down the road. Extra slowly. Just so we can see these gnomes! By now we’re all pretty interested.

Slowly, slowly we went. And low and behold, as you can see by the picture featured in this post, the woman was correct. There were indeed gnomes up there, hiding amongst the trees on the bank. So, like good tourists, we stopped and had a good old look. Dad climbed up onto the bank to have an even better look, and got that picture – just to prove mom’s NOT the crazy woman we were all thinking she was turning into.

It will have to be another day when that happens. And now we all know that gnomes DO exist. They live in the forests of Scotland, apparently.

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Oh yes, we pretty much did. We returned late last night from our weekend away in Scotland. A good trip, we went up to see Paul’s folks, make sure they’re still alive, and remind them how much they miss us. Oh, ok, maybe not, but it was a good trip. It wasn’t a long weekend for us, so it was just a short trip. We left Friday after work, and didn’t arrive at his mom’s until after 3am!! So, I’m not lying to you when I say we drove all night! The ride home was a bit better. I helped break it up a bit by driving a bit on our way out of Scotland. First time I’ve driven our car for any real length of time, and I do have to say I really enjoyed it.

Strawberries are in full swing here, so I made a shortcake to take up north with us. Shortcake really isn’t a thing here like it is at home – I guess I mean more mom and dad’s than anything. Most people here seem to be happy just eating strawberries with lovely double cream, but I’ve got enough of my mother in me to think that strawberries need a shortcake. I do have to say her recipe is the easiest thing in the world to mix up, so it’s no wonder I’m now becoming real convert! I’m going to do something a bit different later this week, though. I’m getting local strawberries in my weekly box from Abel and Cole and I’m intending to make strawberry ice cream. Yes, they may do better in a pie, but Paul does like his ice cream.

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Happy New Year! We had a good one, staying in – yes a bit boring, but it’s what we did! I have to say it was a good night. Paul insisted we buy a Wii, so we ended up playing that. We had earlier in the year planned to go to Scotland over the New Year, to visit Paul’s folks and spend New Year’s Eve in Edinburgh. Turns out we made a good decision, as Edinburgh’s Hogmanay was cancelled, due to adverse weather conditions. It would have been nice to visit family, but we’ll save up some money and visit for a longer period in the New Year. And besides, the Wii was tons of fun. I beat Paul at bowling three times. 

Anyways, hope you all had a great New Year back home. We’ll see you in June!

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Paul and I finally made our way down to the Partridge the other day. We’ve had drinks in there before, but this time we actually decided to have a proper pub lunch. And it was soooo nice. The menu itself is pretty decent, but I really had my eye on trying one
of their pies. So, instead of trying anything else, we had yummy,
stodgy British pies. I had the steak and ale pie, and Paul had the
shephard’s pie. I do have to say that mine was pretty darn good.

The beer selection isn’t bad, and it’s a little older crowd in there than what’s in the Walkabout next door. We didn’t feel out of place and were able to enjoy a drink in peace. I think we’ll heading back for another sometime soon.

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It’s a quiet day today. Raining a bit, and Paul and I are sacked out on the couch watching a movie. But we haven’t been lazy all weekend!

Yes, this afternoon we’re watching Kill Bill Vol. 2. I guess I’m just keeping half an eye on it – not really my thing. So, we had a good weekend here. We had our friend Kevin over this weekend for dinner and a night out. We haven’t had any one over in ages, so it was kinda nice to have someone else around the house for a bit. I made chile for dinner and then made some ice cream, then went out in town here. Bromley’s not that bad to go out in. Best part is that we can walk everywhere. Most pubs are crawling with what seem like really young folks, but we went to a new place called the Partridge where folks seemed more our age. Rather a good night out – good to catch up with Kevin.

Our Sunday here has been pretty lazy. Just bought a paper, did some laundry and now we’re crashed on the couch watching tv. It’s all warm and cozy and it’s nice not having to go anywhere. All the cleaning’s done and we’re just relaxing letting the time pass.

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